University of Calgary ranked among top 10 Canadian sustainability leaders

Sustainability is a core value in the University of Calgary's Eyes High strategic direction and is one of seven institutional priorities in our 2012 Academic Plan. As a measure of our continuing success in leading in sustainability practices and reporting, the university has been named one of the top 10 organizations by Corporate Knights for the third year in a row. 

The Future 40 Responsible Corporate Leaders ranking assesses businesses and institutions in Canada with revenues of less than $2 billion annually to identify those which have the best sustainability and disclosure practices. 

"This Corporate Knights ranking provides strong validation that the University of Calgary is succeeding in its goal to become a post-secondary leader in sustainability in Canada," says Joanne Perdue, chief sustainability officer. "We are delighted to have attained this recognition. It is a tribute to the contributions across our campus community to advance our commitment to leadership and excellence is sustainability."

Only two universities are on the list this year. The University of Calgary is ranked number eight overall. York University is ranked number 22. 

Based on 12 key performance indicators, the ranking includes sustainability indicators such as energy use, GHG emissions, water use, waste production, employee turnover, safety performance and leadership diversity. According to Corporate Knights, smaller organizations that do not have the same kind of resources as their larger peers increasingly recognize the importance of transparency and disclosure, resource productivity, good governance and social responsibility. The University of Calgary has demonstrated commitment in these areas as well as others in its Institutional Sustainability Strategy that was launched in February 2016.

A list of the top 40 ranked institutions, the methodology used, and where the university ranked for each indicator can be found on the Corporate Knights website and their 2016 Future 40 results webpage. 

To learn more, visit the about our Institutional Sustainability Strategy website. 

Corporate Knights is a media, research and financial information products company based in Toronto, focused on promoting an economic system where prices fully incorporate social, economic and ecological costs and benefits, and market participants are clearly aware of the consequences of their actions. The company calls such a system "clean capitalism." Founded in 2002, Corporate Knights Inc. has two subsidiaries: CK Media, which includes the award-winning business and society magazine Corporate Knights, and CK Capital, which produces corporate rankings, research reports and financial products based on corporate sustainability performance.